[The surgical treatment of chronic tuberculous empyema of the pleura].

333 patients with chronic tuberculous empyema were treated in the Central Military Clinical Tuberculous Hospital N 4. Among them there were 325 (97,6%) men and 8 (2,4%) women. The patients' age varied from 18 to 87 years. The main causes of empyema development were the following: the exudative pleurisy--in 179 (53,8%) cases, the complications of lung resection--in 69 (20,7%), the ineffective artificial pneumothorax--in 50 (15,0). In 34 (10,2%) patients the empyema was the result of spontaneous pneumothorax and in 1 (0,3%) patient it developed due to generalization of tuberculosis of extra-pulmonary localization. The treatment was based on extensive surgical interventions performed in patients during the stable and subacute phases of pathologic process. It allowed achieving the good results in 89,2% and satisfactory results--in 9,9% patients.